Video of John's Gospel.

The Gospel of John in video format.
Watch the first part of this for Sundays reading and prepare to reflect on 'THE WORD"

THE BLOG RETURNS!

It's 2014. So I'm thinking... why not give the Blog another fling. According to church guru Tom Ehrich the day of churches being all about worship on Sunday mornings has come to an end. To quote his article in January's Presbyterian Outlook.. 'Leaders should be blogging, nurturing small groups, looking for ways like video to reach more people and using technology to pursue 'touches' and 'leads'..."

To be honest that all seems rather daunting, but I can at least start with the first thing on the list! 'Blogging'.  So the Baldwin Presbyterian blog has returned. In it's previous incarnation this little corner of the web reflected on the previous Sundays sermon. This time, I'm thinking that maybe some pre-emptive thoughts as we approach Sunday worship may prove more fruitful.

However, if Tom is correct, and Sunday worship is no longer the BIG thing, (but rather part of a larger picture) then maybe I'm not thinking far enough out of the box as yet. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if you are reading this, leave an occasional comment, share it on your Twitter/FB whatever spaces. One of the major reasons I abandoned this blog was the lack of response from all but a handful of wonderfully faithful folk. It seemed to take up a lot of time to reach very few people. But I'm trying again!

Our topic for this upcoming Sunday will be 'Words, Words, Words', based around the prologue to John's gospel.  "John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (Joh 1:1 NIV) 

To offer a little preview; 

"On television, on radio, chatter, chatter, chatter and on and on and on, till we get to a point where the TV is left on and the radio is left talking, but no-ones watching and no-ones listening, just a constant murmuring going on in the background.Words to songs. We sing them. We sing them again. but often they don't mean anything. As a pop tune once declared "Video killed the radio star". 

Even in church with our hymns. Some don't bother to pick up the book yet alone open their mouths. And when they are sung it is sometimes without imagination and without understanding. "Nice tune, but what's it all about?". Where there is no engagement of the mind it becomes just empty noise. 

Words from pulpits. How many words have floated over pews, but have never been received, never been chewed upon nor contemplated. The Words of the Bible. "Oh, I know that passage... but I'm not sure I like it in that translation, not sure what it means either, but I do like it."

So some thoughts to ponder as Sunday approaches:-

1. The 'Word' for John was something active, something that caused things to come into being. Incredibly creative and powerful. How can we, within our own experience, embrace such a concept?

2. The 'Word' was also incredibly tied in with John's notion that 'God so loved the world.' Love is an action, not a sentiment."The Word became Flesh and dwelt amongst us". There is a profoundly 'unphilosophical' edge to this notion. This Word gets down and dirty. The Word is not a randomly posted comment, but a personal in the flesh visitation. The challenge here seems to be that it is easy to stand by and talk about something, but to get stuck in and DO something... well that's another story altogether. One of my pet hates is our Presbyterian tendency to believe that because we have formed a committee and talked about something, the problem is therefore solved.

3. The 'Word'  is hard to capture with words.Words often let us down when we are trying to express what is most important.

So there's some thoughts to get us going. If you are not able to be in Baldwin Presby church this Sunday...or have no desire to be ... then you are still invited to be part of the conversation. The sermon is usually posted sometime Monday morning, and engagement is invited. GO HERE and click on the 'most recent sermon' link to find it after Sunday.

God Bless for 2014!

Blog Vacation

Thanks to all my blog followers :-) Be aware that I'm taking some vacation time and will not be updating posts during August. However the sermons will still be available (at least the couple I'll be preaching) at http://presbysermons.blogspot.com/

Hope that wherever your summer is taking you is a good place to be. Regular blogs will resume in the Fall. God Bless.

Adrian.

Jacobs Wrestling Match

Jacob met an angel by the river. They get into a fight and wrestle until dawn. Jacob walks away bruised but blessed. Not the average bible story! But it just happened to be the story behind our sermon this past Sunday, which can be found here.

I like this story. It gives me hope. Because like many people (even ‘Pastor’ people) I find that faith does not come easily. I struggle with the inconsistencies of what I believe. I listen to the arguments of those that see no need for God and often find myself agreeing with what they say. I struggle with the actions and mistakes that the church has made and will make. I struggle, not only with my own beliefs, but to recognize as genuine the beliefs of others that also claim the name Christian.

That is why this story gives me hope. Because Jacob’s struggle is very physical and very real. It involves his whole being. This is not some early morning prayer on a beautiful mountaintop just as the sun is rising and the birds are singing. This is hands on struggling to find a way through the darkness and grappling with the unknown.

And the reason I like this story so much is that in the midst of the struggle is God. A God representation that does not seek to justify itself or explain itself or rationalize itself, but a presence that gets hold of Jacob and challenges him; “Go ahead. Make my day”. A presence that will not let him pass by.

And when Jacob does walk away, he limps. He is hurting. Yet he also has a new name. Israel. A name that indicates the striving of God. The God who will seek to bless us even as we seek to usurp His place.

So, I guess where I’m going with this is to say; “Don’t be afraid of the struggles. Believing was never meant to be a breeze. Faith is fire. “

Prayer: “Lord, we come before You with all our doubts and struggles. In the midst of them, help us to find Your presence. We thank You that You are the God who strives to bless us. And even though our walk of faith can truly be quite lame, let us never give up our seeking after truth. Amen.”

Jacobs Wives

Jacob was tricked by Laban into marrying two wives. Is there anything we can learn from such a story? Well it turned out to be the topic of our sermon last Sunday, which can be found here.

At the heart of the story is the love that Jacob has for Rachel. It is an experience of human love and longing that seems to transform Jacob. Instead of getting mad or getting even (as he previously seemed inclined to do in situations of conflict) Jacob is prepared to sit it out and accept that sometimes landing your dream girl took longer than you expected.

Such seems to be lesson that applies to many areas of our lives. We all have our hopes and dreams. But we are nor masters of our own destiny. We need patience. We need to accept that things may not turn out exactly as we had expected. We need to keep trusting that God is on our case and for that reason, whatever transpires is ultimately in God’s hands!

That is never easy. Jacob learnt that lesson the hard way! Affairs of the heart have a tendency to be complicated. Circumstances can change in a heartbeat. We never quite escape our past. We can never be sure of the actions of those around us.

For our part the best we can do is trust in God, and prayerfully seek the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit in the different situations that come our way.

Prayer: “Lord, we do not always understand Your ways! Stories from the past challenge us and invite us to rethink our attitudes. Yet Lord You blessed Jacob, and You blessed both Rachel and Leah. Help us to understand that You desire only our best, no matter what others do to us or the mess we get ourselves into! Amen.”

Jacob’s Ladder

Whilst Jacob sleeps he dreams of a ladder reaching to the heavens. A sermon reflecting on Jacobs experience can be found here.

One of the phrases from the story that resonates with myself is Genesis 28: 16 when Jacob ponders “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it”

Finding God in the midst of our everyday lives can take us by surprise. I know that as Christians we give lip service to grand theological phrases like ‘omnipresence’ (meaning ‘always there’) but it still throws us a curve ball when that presence is discovered in tangible ways.

As summer congregations dwindle and folks have more significant things to do with their time than attend church services, it can raise all sorts of questions in a pastor’s mind.

But then I remember, thank God, that it’s not about me. It’s about that presence of God that often we don’t recognize. Jacob had a deep sense of awe when he awoke from his dream. God was going to bless others through his compromised life.

Remembering that ‘The Lord is in this place’ can save us from feeling our efforts are futile or insignificant. We love because Christ first loved us. We serve because Christ came to serve. We believe because God believes in us.

And though attendance may well be down during the summer months the most important focus of any worship service remains our Lord Jesus Christ, who promises that wherever even two or three gather in His name, He is going to be in the midst of it all.

Prayer: ”Lord remind us that it is never about the numbers, but all about the grace You have revealed to us in and through Jesus Christ. As Jacob dreamt of a ladder teeming with angels, help us to be aware of the unseen cloud of witnesses always surrounding our lives. May we know like Jacob that ‘Surely the Lord is in this place’. Amen.”

Jacob and Easu

Jacob and Esau. The conflicting twin boys who came out of the womb fighting each other. They became the subject of our sermon this past Sunday, a sermon that you can find here.

I admit to enjoying these Old Testament stories of family conflict and rivalry. They seem to ring so true to contemporary life and appear to be mirrored in every age. From the rivalry of Emperors’ of Rome, to the struggle of European monarchies, from Popes to Reformers, maybe even in the conflicts of Republicans and Democrats, there are those underlying structures of family and power.

And then in our own lives, as so well expressed by Paul, there are our personal struggles. The singer/songwriter Garth Brooks comments, “The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself.”

As I read these stories I am reminded of our urgent need for the Grace of God to redeem us and for the Holy Spirit to recreate our lives. And I don’t mean just in some abstract way, but in a daily way that touches on the way we approach our routine tasks and how we speak and act with one another… in the present.

Thankfully the promises of God’s grace towards us are universal in application. Let us reach out and make them ours this week!

Prayer : “Lord, help me find my way in Your way! Amen.”

Lives of Faith.

We began our summer sermon series on the life of Jacob by taking a look at one of the Patriarchs who came before him, namely Abraham, the great Father of Faith. A sermon reflecting on two of the folk he interacted with, namely Hagar and Ishmael, can be found here.

The soap opera like account of the dysfunctional family that gave birth to Jacob does not make for easy reading. Lies, betrayal and a capacity for doing it all wrong are consistent character defects. The voice of God is often not heard, until after the situation that could have been avoided has taken place.

Yet, the wonder of it all is that the grace of God wins every time. This gives me some hope. I see the mess we often make of things, and realize that over and again we display a great inability to rightly discern the voice of God.

These Old Testament stories carry the simple truth that God is greater than we are. As we face problems both at an individual and corporate level, we do well to remember that!

Prayer: ‘Lord, it is often the simple things that we fail to grasp. That we do better when we follow Your leadings. That though we miss up, you offer forgiveness and a chance to get it right through Jesus Christ. That Your Holy Spirit is there to be the strength in the midst of our weakness. Remind us often of these simple truths we pray. Amen.’

Being Connected

This past Sunday we welcomed Rev Mark Tammen to our pulpit. Mark is the newly appointed General Presbyter for the Presbytery of Long Island and spoke at our Adult Forum about the challenges of being part of the larger church, which in our Presbyterian situation consists of a local Presbytery, regional Synod and national General Assembly.

Every denomination structures itself in different ways… and even those churches that claim to be independent often form alliances with like-minded brethren (or their female equivalent) somewhere along the line. For myself one of the things I enjoy about belonging to the P.C. (USA) is that we do have a larger body, in our case the Presbytery of Long Island, that we relate to. You can find out more about the Presbytery, and the work that is done with our support, by following this link.

For myself it is great encouragement to meet with other ministers and elders from around the Presbytery and share our concerns. As we do so we often find we are facing the same struggles and problems. Our Presbytery meetings, though sometimes beset by the tedium that any governing body experiences, can also be truly inspiring. A high point can be the stories shared by those who feel newly called to ministry as they tell of their faith journey. It is fascinating to hear how the Spirit is at work!

I have to confess that the word ‘committee’ is not one that fills me with hope. Yet as I participate in the work of different Presbytery Committees I can often sense that God is guiding and leading us in unexpected ways.

Being connected is important. The Church is about more than what happens in our local congregations. It’s good to remind ourselves that we are not alone and that it’s not all about us!

Prayer: ‘Lord, we are thankful that the work of Your church goes far beyond what happens in our pew. We are aware that there are things we can accomplish together that we cannot achieve alone. We thank You for the privilege of sharing in ministry through the connections we have. Most of all we are thankful for the connection we have with You, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Amen.’

Trinity Sunday

As well as being Trinity Sunday, our Church here in Baldwin squeezed in Sunday School singers, recognizing graduates, celebrating our Sunday School Teachers and may even have mentioned Fathers Day somewhere in the mix. The sermon for the day spoke about transitional lenses! Want to know more? The sermon can be found here.

Meanwhile, getting back to that Trinity thing. It seems to be a stumbling block for many. Claims that it was an invention of early theologians and that it isn’t in the bible abound. Other religions tend to misinterpret it. In certain passages of the Koran, the Trinity is pictured as being the Father, the mother (Mary) and their son Jesus. Such a construct is entirely lacking in the Christian Scriptures!

Whilst the phrase ‘Trinity’ nowhere appears in the Bible, the New Testament certainly does speak of God as a Father, Jesus Christ as ‘Son of God’ and the Holy Spirit as being an essential part of the nature of God. All three are spoken of in close relation to one another, and none of the three acts independent from the whole.

Analyze it too much and you end up weaving knots. Ignore it and you seriously omit a big part of the New Testaments understanding of who God is, what Jesus was about and how the work of God continues to impact our world through the Holy Spirit.

Personally I have room for mystery. I am grateful to those theologians who dig deep and seek to explain it. But I also notice that the New Testament authors did not the feel the need to do so. They just lived it.

Prayer: Lord, sometimes when we seek to explain everything we just muddy the waters. Help us have the kind of faith that is more about living than theorizing! We thank You for the love shown to us in Jesus and are thankful for the way Your Spirit continues to work His ways into Your everyday world. Amen.

Pentecost

The Church was given birth through the action of the Holy Spirit who energized the disciples as they waited together in worship and prayer. Our birthday sermon can be found here.

The Baptist Preacher Charles Spurgeon once wrote “Without the Spirit of God we can do nothing. We are as ships without wind or chariots without steeds. Like branches without sap, we are withered. Like coals without fire, we are useless. As an offering without the sacrificial flame, we are unaccepted.”

Our direction and our energy are both dependent upon the action of God’s Spirit working in, through and around our lives. Without the Holy Spirit, Christian life degenerates into a hard slog to attain unreachable ideals. Without the action of God’s Spirit inspiring us and renewing us we maintain a graceless existence.

John’s gospel describes the Holy Spirit’s work as being ‘Living Water’. Already this summer here in Long Island we are experiencing high temperatures and our weather broadcasts are issuing warnings to stay hydrated and seek the shade.

If we feel our Christian life has become dry and lifeless, maybe we need to seek a Holy Ghost refreshing! How do we do that? Through prayer. Through meditating on God’s Word. Through worship, alone and in the company of others. Through reminding ourselves that every day we live, we live in the shadow of an Almighty God whose love is for us in Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Lord, today we seek the refreshing wind of Your Holy Spirit to blow upon our lives. Remind us that our strength lies not in what we can achieve, but in what Your grace can do in us and through us. Fill us with Your Spirit this day. Amen.

Table Talk

This past Sunday was our Music Sunday. It was also a communion service. We were led to the table by numerous musical contributions varying from anthems featuring the chancel and bell choirs to piano pieces by some of the youngest children. It was truly a delight and a feast of many different sounds.

My own contribution was a communion song titled 'Table Talk'. As some folk had asked for the words, this is a suitable place to post them.

'Lord, I can scarcely understand,
The love here shown to me
The broken bread, the red, red wine,
This sacred mystery

Lord, although my faith is weak,
It’s here my soul flys free
The broken bread, the red, red wine,
Speaking liberty

Oh Lord, my Lord, Such love shown here to me
Jesus, Jesus, Crucified yet free.

Lord, I can scarcely understand,
How death became victory
Your broken body, the red, red blood,
The Cross of Calvary

Oh Lord, my Lord, Such love shown here to me
Jesus, Jesus, Crucified yet free.

Lord, I can scarcely understand the love here shown to me.'

Following worship, in the afternoon, we were treated to a jazz concert by Matt Wilson and guests that served as a fund raiser for 'Relay for Life'. A most musical and inspiring day!

The Death of Stephen

In our cozy churches where sometimes the worst that happens is somebody reads the wrong bible passage or the choir are a little off-tune in the anthem we easily forget that the Church was built upon the experience of martyrdom. One of the first martyrs was Stephen, a deacon chosen by the apostles. A sermon reflecting on Stephen can be found here.

One of the most startling aspects of Stephen’s testimony is the depth of his courage. When hauled before the Sanhedrin to give an account of himself, he could easily have softened his message a little, so as to cause nobody any offence. Indeed, if he’d kept quiet about his faith he would never have been on trial in the first place.

There is something burning in Stephen. You can call it the fire of the Holy Spirit or describe it as passionate devotion for Jesus Christ, whom he called Lord and Savior. However we describe it, Stephen just could not keep quiet about what had been done to Jesus Christ, who had done it and how God turned it all around and had raised Jesus to glory.

That his opponents don’t see things that way, is not so much a cause for despair on Stephen’s part, so much as it is a call to prayer. As they stone him he prays that God will forgive them. There appears no evidence of malice or hatred in what Stephen has said, rather he just laid it out as he saw it. Stephen is executed through stoning. Barbaric, but sadly not even unknown in some parts of the world today.

What a challenge such actions lay before us! Where is our passion? Why are we not motivated to speak out in such bold terms? What if persecution such as the earliest church faced were to come our way? Would we crumble and keep quiet or would we rise up and keep faith?

Not easy questions.
No easy answers.

Prayer: Lord, the faith of the martyrs is such a deep challenge to our easy going expressions of discipleship. We are complacent and content with not making waves. We are often uncertain in our belief and hesitate to take a stand for what we do not fully comprehend. Forgive us. But also renew us. Increase our vision. Deepen our desire. ‘Grant us courage for the living of these days’! Amen.

Tartan Sunday

Tartan Sunday is a Sunday that the Presbyterian Church here in Baldwin takes time out to consider the historical roots of Presbyterian faith in the ministry of John Knox in Scotland. In our P.C. (USA) Book of Confessions (which helps guide the way we interpret our faith) one of the earliest documents is the Scots Confession. Our Tartan Sermon can be found here.

John Knox believed that there were three signs that marked any church as being authentic. Faithful proclamation of the Word of God; faithful administration of the sacraments and effective church discipline. It is probably on the latter of these, church discipline, that he would find fault with us today. Although our Book of Order has a whole section devoted to the matter, it is probably the least referenced section of the volume.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. The most effective form of discipline is self-discipline rather than that of an outside body. There have historically been many abuses of authority on the part of those who felt it their task to rule it over others with an iron hand.

We shy away from the word ‘discipline’ as it implies heavy handedness and judgmental attitudes. Yet it is from the root of ‘discipline’ that we have the much more accessible word ‘disciple’. We much prefer the ‘disciple’ word. That could be because we look at discipleship through rose-colored spectacles rather than the demanding definition that Jesus gave us.

Scripture teaches that discipleship involves taking up a cross, having a love for God that places all other loves in jeopardy and seeking the welfare of our enemies. This is, of course, not the way we function! We do our best to avoid confrontation, are prone to make idols of just about anyone or anything that makes us feel good and rejoice when our enemies get what we feel they deserve!

John Knox was however also aware that Christian life was not an effort of disciplined self-will but a response to the grace of God. In a section in the Scots Confession on the Holy Spirit we read “Our faith and its assurance do not proceed from flesh and blood, that is to say from natural powers within us, but are the inspiration of the Holy Ghost…”

Prayer: ‘Lord, if our faith were to be judged by rules of discipline than we could be in deep trouble. We are thankful that Jesus did not come into our world to condemn but to redeem. As we sense Your grace may we be moved to serve others in the strength of Your love. Amen.

A New Commandment (Mothers Day)

This past Mothers Day in worship we thought words of Jesus from John’s Gospel "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Our sermon can be found here.

The implications of the gospel message are not hard to understand. Counting other people as equally significant as ourselves, treating others like we would like to be treated, loving all people regardless of who they are or where they may be coming from. The complications arise as we try to live out those simple precepts!

Many of us are blessed to have been a glimpse of what unconditional love looks and feels like through the example of our parents. They put up with our worse, they tended us when sick and lifted us up when we fell. They often made sacrifices so that we could have a better life.

At the time we may not have appreciated it. We interpreted their care as being a restriction to our freedom. We didn’t want to come home that early or play music that quietly. We couldn’t understand why they had to know where we were going or who we were with. It is only with maturity and hindsight that we see their actions as flowing from love!

We can be the same in our relationship with God. Religion is seen as restrictive. We don’t want to play by all the rules because we are convinced that we know best. We forget that the nature of God is love and the work of the Spirit is to help us be more reflective of the life of Jesus (particularly in our relationships with each other).

Prayer: Lord, we are thankful for all those who in our life have taught us the meaning of love. May we allow their good example to shape our actions. Help us to grow deeper in Your love that we may reflect the life of Jesus in our daily actions. Amen.

The Doubter

The Doubter

I’ve always had a place in my affection for the disciple Thomas, or ‘Doubting Thomas’ as he became known. We reflected on his experience of the resurrection as we met around the table for communion this past Sunday. Notes from the sermon can be found here.

I find that there is a huge part of myself that is decidedly skeptical. The story is that Thomas wasn’t there when Christ appeared alive to the other disciples. Thomas just won’t take their word for it. He wants to touch and see for himself.

No matter how reliable the other disciples were, or how close they had grown as friends, when it came to talking of impossible things like resurrections you just couldn’t take anyone’s word for it. Not even your closest friends. After all, Judas had been a close friend and look how that turned out! Better to trust nobody.

Things like resurrections just don’t happen. Unless you happen to be in a room and Christ stands there in front of you saying, “Here. Touch the scars”. How do you deal with that? Thomas did the only thing he could do. He bowed down and said “My Lord, My God”.

I suspect I am not alone in having those days when religious faith just doesn’t add up. I don’t want to take any persons word for it (be they friend or foe). I want to see. I want to touch. Don’t give me that ‘Blessed are those who have not seen, yet believed’ stuff, because it is not working; I want something more tangible.

And then Jesus shows up. No, not in the room as a visible person telling me to stick my fingers where a spear had pierced His side, but as a whisper in the wind or a phrase in the midst of an unexpected conversation. As a word of scripture suddenly becomes illuminated or in the midst of a prayer that I’m suddenly aware has become a conversation. I sense a presence and my heart is moved and involuntarily I’m thinking “My Lord, My God!”

Of course you are not going to take my word it. You are not living in my skin. And no I can’t prove it or explain it. In our Easter service we a number of times used the phrase ‘Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed.’ Ah, the mystery of faith!

Prayer: Lord, some of us understand Thomas all to well. We think we need to see. We say we cannot believe till we touch. Grant us eyes that see Your presence in unexpected places and ears to hear Your Spirit whispering our name in places we don’t always hear. May our doubts lead us to Your presence. Amen.